Karl Stokes

Chairperson

Karl grew up as a Pony Club kid in Central Queensland and, despite a distinct lack of riding prowess, enjoyed many bush gymkhanas and rural pony club camps.  Karl’s equestrian interests were interrupted when he moved to Brisbane to study and then moving to Perth.

Karl didn’t get back to the horse scene until his wife, Susan, convinced him that it would be a good idea to live in the Perth hills, at which time he convinced her that ponies for the children would be a good idea to “enhance our lifestyle, but not become our lifestyle”.  Karl managed to stay true to that ethos for a very short time until his daughter took up membership at the Darlington Pony Club and became a very enthusiastic eventer, now every spare minute is occupied by the topic of horses.

Karl was a member of the Darlington Pony Club committee between 2012 – 2018 where he alternated between the roles of President and Vice-President.

When he’s not busy with horses, Karl is maintaining his career in the mining industry where he holds a senior leadership position.

Jan Lawrie

Vice Chair

Jan originated from Kent, England. Moving here when she was young, she began her love of the outdoors post school, working as farm hand in Kojonup eventually attaining her Associate Diploma in Agricultural Technology from Muresk Institute in Northam.  From there Jan became involved with horses which continued with her husband’s families Quarter Horse Stud in Gidgegannup where they have been breeding Quarter Horses for the past 40 years. At present Jan is a Laboratory Technician within the education department working in two schools assisting science teachers.

Jan has been a member of Gidgegannup Horse and Pony Club for the past 20 years. She began with three daughters as riding members all under the age of 7. Since then Jan has had many roles with in the club including parent, president, vice president, treasurer, events co-ordinator, coach co-ordinator, coach and various roles on the Zone committees. This has given her a thorough grounding in the year to year running of a very active Pony Club and the equestrian world in general. Jan has been the Gidgegannup CNC Event Director for the past 8 years and has seen the event grow to become the largest event held in Western Australia. The Gidge CNC has successfully run both Pony Club WA and EWA classes which always throws up many challenges and keeps the director and committee on their toes. The journey of her own children through Pony Club has instilled in Jan the belief, in Pony Club WA as a character building association for both riders and parents. What other sport involves getting up at the crack of dawn, towing horses all over the state, making sure all the correct gear is packed and clean, knowing all the rules for any particular sport, spending endless hours watching, having and or giving lessons then being on hand to help with those last minute hiccups all for 8 minutes in the arena. 100% worth it.

Nyrell Williams

Director, Appointed State Coaching Panel Representative

Nyrell has been involved with Pony Club since 1990 at Riverside Park.  She was initially involved in coaching then in 1997 became a committee member.  During this time Nyrell held the positions of Treasurer for two years, Chief Coach for a total 10 years, Secretary for two years and general committee for the balance until a couple of years ago when she fell back to just enjoying coaching at the Club.

Nyrell has also been involved with the Metropolitan Zone from 1997 for many years and held the positions of C*/K Co-ordinator and Zone Coach Co-ordinator.

Appointed to the Pony Club WA State Coaching Panel in 2008, Nyrell held the position of Chairperson from 2016-2019. She has also held the positions of State C* Co-ordinator, State NCAS Coach Co-ordinator and Board Representative. Nyrell is a NCAS PC Level 1 Coach, Efficiency Level Examiner for C, C Star/K and NCAS Coach Assessor and an Accredited Gear Checker

Nyrell would like to see Pony Club continue to be a prominent youth organisation.  She is passionate about promoting the “Aims and Objectives of Pony Club” to all members and coaches and allow all youth the opportunity Pony Club has to offer.

Deb Spencer

Director

Deb began her working life as a Dental Assistant in a private practice where she remained for the next 21 years.  In this time Deb was a Practice Manager overseeing 3 surgeries and 7 staff and also working as a qualified Dental Assistant in the surgery.  In 2003 Deb decided to start her path to Coaching and attained her NCAS Level 1 General Certificate.  This was inspired after attaining her Pony Club NCAS Level 1.  Deb has coached horse riding as her profession since.

Deb says she was always fortunate to have had horses but never had the privilege of attending Pony Club as she lived on land where her parents owned a pig stud and Sunday was always market day.  It was not until her own daughter Stephanie, joined Horsemen’s Pony Club in 1998, that Deb discovered what a wonderful organisation it was and the opportunities it presented to both riders and parents.  In this time as a parent she became active in the club as a coach where the opportunity arose after attaining her PC NCAS Level 1 to become a member of the Pony Club WA State Coaching Panel.  This then led to a position on the then Executive of Pony Club WA as the State Coaching Panel Representative and also the National Coaching Panel Representative for WA.

The contribution that Deb would like to make to the Pony Club WA is that her objective views on all matters Pony Club help the Association to grow in numbers and popularity.

Deb would like to see the Association grow in numbers, both riders and coaches.  Deb firmly believes this is the most wonderful organisation to be involved with and if everyone can work harmoniously together with Clubs and Zones, this will easily be achieved.

Brooke Williams

Director

Brooke started Pony Club when she was six years old and was a member for the following period (1997-2009, 2016) at Riverside Park Pony Club. During that time Brooke was actively involved as a member and as a competitor in all disciplines. Brooke represented Western Australia twice at the National PPMG in 2005 and 2006. Furthermore, Brooke has been a member of the Pony Club WA Audit and Finance Committee for the past 2 years, assisting with the audit process and drafting financial statements for Pony Club WA.

Outside the world of Pony Club, Brooke has been a member of Kofukan Karate Australia for over 15 years and is currently assisting with teaching students aged from 3 years old. As part of teaching/coaching students, Brooke has gained a proficiency of 3^rd Dan Black Belt, holds a NCAS Bronze Dojo Coaching Accreditation, Working with Children card and Apply First Aid Certificate. Brooke’s professional career, has seen her completing Bachelor of Commerce (Accounting/Accounting Technologies) at Curtin University. Brooke is a Chartered Accountant as a full member of the Chartered Accountant Institute of Australia and New Zealand and currently holds a position as Audit Manager with Grant Thornton Australia Pty Ltd where Brooke has been employed for 5 years. Brooke currently holds a portfolio of clients from many industries that include not-for-profit, biomedical, manufacturing and aged care.

Ann-Marie Lowry

Director

Ann Marie has been involved with horses all her life and this “hobby” became a lifestyle once she married eventer, Shaun Lowry and moved from Perth to Mundijong in 1989.

The Lowry family joined Serpentine HPC in 1996 and have been active members for the 23 years since. All three children learnt to ride and developed their horsemanship at pony club but Grace and Tom soon found non-horsey interests to keep themselves busy. Middle child Georgia, however, has always been passionate about her ponies and  the huge variety of pony club activities and friendships have been a cornerstone of her life ever since. Shaun and Ann Marie equally found Pony Club people and culture to be amazingly positive, inclusive and fun and they have thoroughly enjoyed being part of such a great youth movement over so many years.

After a very busy career as a corporate lawyer, HR consultant/ recruitment specialist and leadership executive at Fortescue Metals Group between 1986-2014, Ann Marie decided to leave the St Georges Terrace environment and focus on her family and a more rural life. This took the form of being an actively involved  owner and director in locally manufactured animal wellness product Anitone and developing a large agistment property “Shanley Green” in Mardella.

In addition, Ann Marie took on the presidency of Serpentine HPC between 2014 – 2017  and is very proud of this strong and happy club that celebrates its rich history and community spirit while continuing to produce great numbers of capable riders across all Pony Club sports with admirable sportsmanship and character.

Ann Marie believes that Pony Club, at all levels, can deliver even greater services to all the members by encouraging open, transparent and encouraging environments and by sharing the roles and responsibilities amongst as many as possible. In this way, the workload is lighter  knowledge is shared and successful succession is facilitated.

Steve Frantom

Director

Steve first became involved with Pony Club in 2005 when his daughter joined Darlington Horse and Pony Club as a lead liner. Before long, his son joined and soon all the family were enjoying riding and making the most of various Zone and State Pony Club events. Fourteen years on, and Steve still enjoys being an active parent volunteer, now at Eastern Hills Horse and Pony Club.

There have been many memorable Pony Club moments for Steve, including leading a miniature pony and rider combination at a run in deep arena sand, completing two legs of a tetrathlon, (the longest four-minute swim of his life!) and experiencing every possible weather condition possible other than snow.

On any given weekend you will find Steve, along with the many parent helpers, on the ground participating in their favoured disciplines, Active Riding, Show Jumping, Tetrathlon and enjoying the wonderful camaraderie which is such an important part of what we do.

A Diesel Mechanic by trade, Steve completed a Diploma of Management in 2013 and is employed as a Business Improvement Advisor with a leading WA Earthmoving Equipment Dealership.

Amelia Thomas

Director

Amelia has been a member of pony club for almost 20 years, and has been involved as a volunteer on a number of occasions and recognised for these efforts receiving the Pony Club WA Citizenship Award in 2017 and the Pony Club WA Dressage Coach of the Year Award recipient in 2018. Over that period, Amelia has also been involved in the operations of her club as a former member of the committee, both as a junior member and associate.

Amelia has a background in Human Resource Management, Accounting, Politics & International Relations with a Bachelor of Commerce & Arts obtained from the University of Notre Dame.  She views becoming a member of the board as the next step in continuing her involvement and development as a member of Pony Club. Amelia hopes to learn from the vast experience and knowledge of other members on the board, to grow as a leader and continue to contribute to the guidance of Pony Club in Western Australia for many years to come.

Amelia would like to see Pony Club Western Australia continue to grow as a youth organisation in Western Australia and believes that she has the experience and drive to help ensure this happens.